The Mountaineers have begun spring practice which, of course, means they’ve’ begun the process of finding a replacement for Smith.

West Virginia quarterback Paul Millard is among those competing for the Moutaineers' starting job. He gets help from coach Dana Holgorsen (right). (AP Photo)

According to The Daily Athenaeum, there are four players in the mix: junior Paul Millard, redshirt freshman Ford Childress, redshirt junior transfer Logan Moore and true freshman Chavas Rawlins.

Millard was Smith’s barely-used backup the last two seasons. As a result, he is the assumed leader of the pack. In his career, Millard has completed 16-of-34 passes for 211 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions.

“Paul’s got more experience,” coach Dana Holgorsen said. “He probably understands the offense a little better than the other guys, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to give him more reps. Because it’s not where they’re at right now; it’s where they’re going to end up in six months.”

Childress was a highly-touted recruit from Texas who redshirted last year. With a real chance to start now, he is even more motivated.

Moore and Rawlins are both only now learning Holgorsen’s system.

Holgorsen said he would not rush the process of naming a starter.

“I would assume everyone kind of wants to know about the quarterback situation,” he told the paper. “I’m more anxious than you are. We’ve got a lot of practices ahead of us, and we won’t name a starter for a while.

“We’re going to have lots of opportunities to evaluate these guys. They need a lot of drill work; they need a lot of team snaps; they need a lot of skill reps and a lot of inside reps to get comfortable with the offense….We’ll need to see which guy shows the most improvement and puts us in the best position to be successful before we make that decision.”